Tonight (July 6) the Greater Cambridge Partnership - formerly known as the City Deal - holds its first-ever conference.

Concentrating on the theme of growing and sharing prosperity, the conference will provide the very latest information on work under way to tackle transport, housing and skills issues as barriers to economic growth in Greater Cambridge.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership is the local partnership with the powers and funding to secure the Cambridge city region’s future success.

It will be hosted by Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, the Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership and the University of Cambridge.

We're also on facebook.com/cambridgenews - for must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Cambridge News.

20:06

Q&A finishes - networking begins

The Q&A has finished.

Invited guests at the first every GCP are now invited to a networking session over refreshments.

20:05

What will Cambridge look like in 2030 if the GCP is successful?

Mark Reeve says: “Some things must be implemented now to make things happen in the future.”

Noelle Godfrey says: “Success would mean Cambridge continues to be a dynamic, vibrant place with leading and world-class technological solutions.”

Prof John Miles says: “Over the years, some of the world’s best people have been in this city. To maintain that tradition, we have to keep attracting those people from wherever they are in the world.”

Mayor Palmer says: “Super fast broadband... the ability of people from outside the city to utilise the incredible nightlife and business opportunities from the city.”

Cllr Herbert says: “We need to have affordable housing and significant new communities surrounding Cambridge... and we need to just end up being a balance community so that everybody who works here can live here.”

20:01

(To the Mayor) Will you be implementing bus transport, and if not, why not?

Mayor Palmer says: “My understanding of bus networks is limited, and how to run them even more so. I wouldn’t pretend to have the answers, and I need to understand.

“I need a survey on bus usage in Cambridge and Peterborough. I think an independent view of the system would be useful.

“I know there are parts of the world where buses work really well, and I think we could look at new ways.

“I think it is very important that, bearing in mind the major transport changes coming to this world, that the bus service links into what we are trying to do in the future and serves what people need now.

“Would it be better to have more buses in the morning than in the afternoon? I don’t know.

“The answer to your question, in short, is yes, we are looking at it.”

Cllr Herbert says: “We should pay tribute to Stagecoach and others for the investment in the city.

“The critical issue is how fast we get buses out of the city.

“We also need to look into infrastructure like travel hubs... we need to look at all the options and there should be a better dialogue between us and the bus companies.”

Noelle Godfrey says: “We need bus services catered to the needs of customers, not the companies.”

19:57

How cost-effective is tunnelling for transport?

Prof John Miles says: “At first sight, tunneling is always more expensive.

“But that does change under certain circumstances. When you come to a city scenario, particularly a very constrained city like Cambridge, putting transport on land is very expensive and time-consuming, and comes at a much higher cost.

“It is always expensive to go underground, but the cost of the tunnels is proportionate to the size of the tunnel. So if you can deliberately keep the tunnels very small and on the top you have a very congested urban space then those things work to reverse the equation, and it can work out cheaper than going over the top.”

James Palmer says: “Clearly Cambridge is not a very big city. Because it isn’t big, the amount of tunnels you need underneath isn’t very big either.

“But it is about the controlled growth beyond Cambridge that the investors will want to know about - they won’t get the money back from the tunnels themselves, but from the opportunities they create.

“The London Underground was built with private investment and it has qorked quite well - I don’t think we could imagine London without it.

“It is about looking for transport solutions for Cambridge that are going to last not just five or 10 years, but 50 to 100 years.”

Cllr Herbert says: “Ultimately, we need to know how a study links to the deliverability of such a project.

“We will need to look at the projected usage... and who is going to fund it? Will it be private funded?

“We will do the study, get the analysis and take it from there.”

19:51

How do you convince people to support a development in terms of the cost-benefit ratio?

Transport director Chris Tunstall steps in to talk about the Jubilee Line in London, which had a very low cost-benefit ration. He said it was put in as an investment, to open up doors.

Cllr Herbert says it’s not all about the cost-benefit ratio, “we are looking at how things benefit the quality of life. Nothing is for free. We are going to make wise decisions and get the very best out the money. We should be investing in cycling.

“Decisions we will make about the city centre do not involve high costs, but will involve difficult choices.”

19:48

How do you combat bureaucracy in the Partnership when there are so many organisations involved?

Mayor James Palmer says: “Lewis (Herbert) and I work together, he’s on my cabinet. We continue to work far more closely together.

“If you know anything of my background you know bureaucracy is not something I look fondly on.

“You won’t see a very large authority, we are conscious of that, and we will always work hard to avoid bureaucracy.”

Cllr Herbert says: “We can work better, we don’t need three people doing one thing, and we can resolve that.

“I think we can expect that in the next phase we will be looking much harder at longer distance travel, at housing in the market towns, so we will be looking ahead, and working together, and we do need to integrate better.”

Mr Reeve says: “We see very much the same picture about working together. There is a need to work out how to do that best, and we are happy to undertake that.

“The good thing is that we are all in the same room, the same places, but we do need to evolve how it is done.”

19:41

How will small businesses be taken in to account by the Greater Cambridge Partnership?

Mark Reeve, Chairman of the LEP, says: “It is our responsibility to work together.”

Cllr Herbert says: “There has been quite a bit more thinking done by the assembly and the board... we are planning a couple of engagement events in September. There are issues for businesses in the city and also residents in the city.

“There are definitely challenges of business to be viable, but there are vital and important city centre businesses that need to get their goods in and out.

“BUt I think we need to look at the large number of random vans that come into the city... which have some odd driving behaviour, like blocking routes.

“We are still committed at looking at improving clean air.

“We have got a range of issues and I think we need to look at that in September.”

19:38

Apart from addressing housing and transport how can we protect quality of life?

Mayor James Palmer says: “Cambridge is more than anything a rural city, to me, and its extraordinary beauty is enhanced by the fact that it is a rural city.

“One of the reasons I am keen to go underground is to protect that.

“Building around the city would spoil the very nature of what the city is.

“The growth for Cambridge will come in the market towns and surrounding areas, and new towns too. That’s why we need an integrated transport plan...

“To protect the quality of life, you enhance the ability of people to travel in and out of the city, and protect its rural nature.”

Noelle Godfrey says: “Brave, ambitious and innovative technology will play a part.

“I think there is an opportunity to understand how technology underpins everything we do. It’s not to say it is the full solution.”

19:35

Going underground is the 'only option' says Prof John Miles

Prof John Miles has said the only way to link up transport to the city with the inner city transport is to go underground.

19:32

Q&A part of the evening begins

The speeches have ended, and the Q&A has begun.

19:31

Prof John Miles from Cambridge University is asking why people get into their cars only to end up in traffic jams

Inventor of the AVRT 120-mph electric bus Prof John Miles says if people are suffering through traffic jams in their cars then it means that public transport is not good enough.

There are possibilities of having small pods that move at high speeds for short journeys in the city centre.

19:27

Noelle Godfrey is next to speak about 'smart' solutions

Noelle Godfrey says: “Right from the beginning we have been working with businesses and the two universities, and that has really paid off.

“It is one of the characteristics of this area, that people are prepared to pitch in.

“Initially we were looking at smart transport solutions...and looking at how we are going to be living in the 2020s, 2030s, and beyond.

“The solutions coming out of the Greater Cambridge Partnership really are future-facing.

“We have new travel apps, air quality sensors installed in the area...We are also going to be using real time travel data in the travel app later this year.

“This week, there have been three reports publish looking at how digital solutions can help to provide solutions for transport going forward. One has been about smart ticketing, and two other which are studies about autonomous vehicles used for public transport.”

19:19

Babette Lind is up next from the Housing Development Agency (HDA)

Babette Lind says: “The aim of the HDA is to work on schemes to deliver at least 250 homes per year over the next three to four years, by working with local authority partners, private companies...

“We are please to report excellent delivery to date.

“The HDA is working in partnership with the City Deal... it is now directly responsible for the delivery of 500 new homes in the city, with 170 million of funding.

“The HDA is just one great example of how we are pulling together resources.”

19:16

Stephen Kelly talks about housing delivery in Cambridgeshire

Stephen Kelly from South Cambridgeshire District Council is talking about housing provision in Greater Cambridge.

He said: “This is a vision of national significance, seeking to secure shared prosperity.

“This is about a link between growth and transport, but also the equality and affordability issues.

“The Partnership has a unique role - we are building up the long-term support for strategic planning.

“Any choices around housing should be part of a coherent shared strategy for housing. That strategy is being developed by the councils, but it is also part of an engagement between the combined authority and housing associations.

“We are trying to find ways of facilitating modern methods of construction.

“There are also talks about community housing... and alternative and more inclusive ways of adding capacity, accelerating supply.

“The Greater Cambridge Partnership is an ‘unblocker’ - there are plenty of organisations working together to try to resolve the problems.”

19:09

Clrr Bick is back to continue his speech

Cllr Bick says: “The pressure for home-grown talent is only likely to increase in a post-Brexit world.

“We intend to assess transport provision for apprentices who have to get to their college or training provider, and consider if this an obstacle for young

people that justifies extra help.

“We are committed to pulling this work together around the actual needs and challenges of Greater Cambridge specifically.

“We are keen to work closely with the employers, colleges, and other partners that play a part in this very complex picture.

“For the Partnership to get the skills strand of the city right will genuinely result in a win-win for everybody.”

19:05

Ailsa Carruthers from company 'AbCam' speaks about hiring apprentices

“We can reassure managers who are worried about taking on apprentices.

“Managers are blown away by how quickly apprentices have integrated into the team, and how productive they are.

“We have been to some careers fairs and talk to students about how apprenticeships can be a good alternative to university.

“Due to the success of our apprenticeship scheme, we are looking to take on more apprentices.”

19:03

Anne Bailey from company 'Form The Future' gives short speech

Anne Bailey explains her company works with schools and colleges to set up apprenticeships.

30,000 students, building a talent pipeline for Cambridge businesses and starting those young people on a path to a successful future.

“We need to change the outdated views - apprenticeships have suffered a second class status for too long. But they are the basis for a successful career.”

19:01

Cllr Tim Bick is next up

Cllr Bick says: “One of the bottlenecks to sustainable prosperity and quality of life is skills.

“Matching supply and demand affects employers and young people making decisions about their future careers.

“Higher investment in vocational skills is a national issue.

“Skills is a market. To be functional, the market needs the right level of good candidates and employers willing to invest more in apprenticeships.”

He continues: “We funded a skills service to work with schools to improve young people’s knowledge when they make career decisions, which has highlighted the historic undersold nature of apprenticeships.”

He said work has also been done with Cambridge Regional College.

18:58

Transport Director Mr Tunstall continues

He says: “We need transport which allows for growth, but also maintains the quality of life - which, if we’re not careful, could disrupt that.

“We are still using the same London sewer system 100 years on - that was developed for the future, and I hope we can achieve something similar with the Greater Cambridge Partnership.”

“By 2030, we are looking at 25 per cent population growth, which in just over 10 years is tremendous.

“I see transport as a means to an end. Too often as transport professionals people are so busy trying to sell the transport mode, rather than thinking about the people who use it.

“We will see a doubling in congestion and things will grind to a halt.

“We are looking in to sustainable transport. We are remembering what Cambridge is all about. We can’t put six lane roads in, which other cities did in the 80s and are desperately trying to work around. They call it the concrete collar and it stops development.”

He says the results of a huge traffic survey of the A14 and M11 will come out later this year, which will tell the Partnership exactly what the problems are on these roads.

Other surveys are due to be carried out.

“We will have a conversation with the residents to understand, to listen and find out what the issues are for people, and not just apply what we think is needed.

“To get to a point where we can offer good, alternative transport, then we need to know exactly what it is that people want, and then provide that capacity for other forms of transport.

“We want to get traffic down by about 10 to 15 per cent in Cambridge City Centre.

“If we don’t do that, people will not get on buses because buses sit in the same traffic.

Mr Tunstall says: “We want to ensure the traffic signal system is among the best in the UK. The network needs to be more efficient and effective - that is what people have fed back to us. It would reduce congestion.

“We are probably one of the few cities who are looking to improve the traffic signal system to this extent.

“We have to to look to the future. Buses are easier to do now if we can get buses to the places people want to go... but we can look into Advanced Rapid Transit and Advanced Very Rapid Transit - again, a bus, but running at a much higher speed than trams or even light rail run at.

“we are looking beyond the inner city, and how far beyond it can go - to St Neots, Haverhill, St Ives.”

18:44

Cllr Francis Burkitt is the next to speak

Cllr Francis Burkitt says senior figures “took advantage of the lull caused by the election” to meet and discuss plans.

“A lot of people here work quite hard together - together with the three councils, with the two universities, with network rail... but more importantly it’s together with out residents, our parish councils, our residents associations. That is very important.

“It has got to be about more than than sheer economic development - it’s about prosperity.

“Cambridge cimply and utterly will not thrive if it is a pin prick of prosperity.

“Sillicon Valley is 40 miles across. It is about a geographic sharing.

“Of the 43 cities in the United Kingdom, we have got the worst, the worst inequality. This is embarrassing and we have to do something about it now.

“This is for our children, that’s what we have to get this going for - it is the future.

“Our new brand is an update, it is not a revolutionary change.

“I think the word partnership is very important - it is ‘our’ city deal. It’s our money, our city deal, and we should try to undertake it as wisely as we can.”

18:38

Cllr Lewis Herbert chair of Cambridge Partnership the first to speak

Cllr Lewis Herbert says: “This is a really important partnership, not just of three councils, but two universities, and all the businesses including transport organisations.

“We inherit a city with a considerable magic, but a magic in terms of our economy, and huge qualities in its environment.”

He continues: “Improvements will extend into Waterbeach and beyond. In the west we are looking at on and off road transport.

“There is a large and ambitious challenge to transform the transport in the centre.